Newgarden sets the pace in final IndyCar practice session at Phoenix

IndyCar drivers had 50 final minutes to tune and improve their cars before Saturday’s Good Ranchers 250 at Phoenix Raceway and after the Friday afternoon practice run was done, Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden proved to be fastest in the No. 2 Chevy (167.677mph).

The 2018 Phoenix race winner was followed by Meyer Shank Racing’s Marcus Armstrong in the No. 66 Honda (167.161mph), Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward in the No. 5 Chevy (166.724mph), Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou in the No. 10 Honda (166.197mph), polesitter David Malukas in the No. 12 Team Penske Chevy (165.394mph) and Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood, who completed the top six in the No. 27 Honda (165.329mph).

The session was clean compared to the first two where crashes took place; only Dale Coyne Racing’s Romain Grosjean experienced issues – suspected to be with his hybrid unit – that limited his No. 18 Honda to 12 early laps before it was sent to the garage.

Felix Rosenqvist, who missed qualifying after a hard hit in opening practice, and Will Power, who struck the wall on his qualifying attempt, were in action during the warm-up outing.

The busy day of running is over and all that’s left is Saturday’s 250-lap race, which should see the green flag wave around 3:20pm ET, 1:20pm local.

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